Unsettling Rumours about Kings Cross suburban platforms

[HSTEd]

The new concourse was a horrible decision in the long run.

They should have extended the platforms to full length and either had the concourse elevated over them or just stuck it on the site of a closed St Pancras road.
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Until one fails completely.

Well is there any need to have a siding for this as opposed to just sticking it one of the platforms? Even an 8 car platform could probably hold a rescue locomotive and a 5-car set for one of the open access operators.

At worst you haven't lost anything if these platforms just get used as sidings.

 

[SpacePhoenix]

If the current platform 9 was got rid of, how much longer could trains be using extended platforms 10 and 11?

 

[DarloRich]

The new concourse was a horrible decision in the long run.

They should have extended the platforms to full length and either had the concourse elevated over them or just stuck it on the site of a closed St Pancras road.

Apart from completely de grottyfying the station and making it an accessible pleasant location it has been a terrible failure especially when you consider all that extra space and all of those popular retail outlets. :roll:

 

[gordonthemoron]

Apart from completely de grottyfying the station and making it an accessible pleasant location it has been a terrible failure especially when you consider all that extra space and all of those popular retail outlets. :roll:

and they managed to fix the WWII bomb damage in the Western Offices

 

[DarloRich]

and they managed to fix the WWII bomb damage in the Western Offices

that wasn't bomb damage - it was explosive redevelopment provided by German engineering consultants

 

[YorkshireBear]

that wasn't bomb damage - it was explosive redevelopment provided by German engineering consultants

Genius. Comment of the day.

 

[HSTEd]

Apart from completely de grottyfying the station and making it an accessible pleasant location it has been a terrible failure especially when you consider all that extra space and all of those popular retail outlets. :roll:

You could have de-grottyfied the station for a tiny fraction of the money they spent on it.
And I am not convinced the architecture is going to age well, exposed concrete like that never does.

 

[DarloRich]

You could have de-grottyfied the station for a tiny fraction of the money they spent on it.
And I am not convinced the architecture is going to age well, exposed concrete like that never does.

yes because there was LOADS of free space on the old Kings Cross concourse. I remember having to queue out of the door to catch a train and after a football match it was like a sardine can. Oh and that green canopy was a superb piece of 1970's crappy architecture. It should have stayed.:roll:

You could not have provided decent facilities, increased vastly the circulating space and preserved the structure of the main station in the way you seem to think. Maybe a few portacabins stuck on the front would have helped keep the budget down.

The station has been transformed from a dark, smelly, cramped, dirty cavern into a light, bright, airy place with plenty of space to move around. As a regular user for many years I think a superb job has been done in transforming the station AND improving the underground station and general access to public transport. It is now a fitting gateway to train travel to Yorkshire, the North east and Scotland. Before it was a terrible embarrassment.

 

[MarkyT]

that wasn't bomb damage - it was explosive redevelopment provided by German engineering consultants

Genius. Comment of the day.

I've often thought the only real difference between civil engineering and military force is the bureaucracy and courtesy of the former, ie civil engineers will at least inform you and give you time to move out before blowing up your building

 

[bramling]

yes because there was LOADS of free space on the old Kings Cross concourse. I remember having to queue out of the door to catch a train and after a football match it was like a sardine can. Oh and that green canopy was a superb piece of 1970's crappy architecture. It should have stayed.:roll:

You could not have provided decent facilities, increased vastly the circulating space and preserved the structure of the main station in the way you seem to think. Maybe a few portacabins stuck on the front would have helped keep the budget down.

The station has been transformed from a dark, smelly, cramped, dirty cavern into a light, bright, airy place with plenty of space to move around. As a regular user for many years I think a superb job has been done in transforming the station AND improving the underground station and general access to public transport. It is now a fitting gateway to train travel to Yorkshire, the North east and Scotland. Before it was a terrible embarrassment.

Don't understand the point you are trying to make.

No one is suggesting the old 1970s concourse should have been retained, or replicated like-for-like.

There is plenty of space both on the front adjacent to Euston Road, and on the side adjacent to Pancras Road. For me, a preferable solution would have been to design the new concourse in such a way so that it allowed platforms 9-11 to be extended.

 

[DarloRich]

Don't understand the point you are trying to make.

No one is suggesting the old 1970s concourse should have been retained, or replicated like-for-like.

There is plenty of space both on the front adjacent to Euston Road, and on the side adjacent to Pancras Road. For me, a preferable solution would have been to design the new concourse in such a way so that it allowed platforms 9-11 to be extended.

I am simply suggesting Kings Cross was a dirty, horrible, cramped dump before the rebuilding works. It is infinitely better now. I very much doubt there was budget for your grand design considering lots of the land around the station hand to be released for development.

 

[Townsend Hook]

Besides, Platform 9 3/4 must be of some literary significance and probably drives quite a lot of non-travellers into the station (and, consequently, its shops which leads to £££). To have a 9 3/4, you surely must need to have a 9 and a 10.

Wouldn't be difficult, just take out a few numbers in between and hey presto, still got your 9 and 10

 

[Clip]

I am simply suggesting Kings Cross was a dirty, horrible, cramped dump before the rebuilding works. It is infinitely better now. I very much doubt there was budget for your grand design considering lots of the land around the station hand to be released for development.

It certainly was a great place to work before the renovation thats for sure

What they shouldve done is extend the platforms and made them exit only with a new concourse on top with escalators going down to them and the main shed platforms. Could still have had the wide airy concourse as it is today by doing that too